


In Memory of Her

by lazykanojo



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Character Death, Comfort/Angst, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Light Angst, Major character death - Freeform, Not Beta Read, One Shot, Original Character Death(s), Sad, bitter sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-24 20:36:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16647341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazykanojo/pseuds/lazykanojo
Summary: I've always thought about when the Sole Survivor dies, who is going to be there for little synth Shaun? So I head canon that with my Sole Survivor romancing Danse, him and little Shaun stick together even when the Sole Survivor is long gone. Here they are, visiting her grave on the 20th anniversary of her death.





	In Memory of Her

Holotags hanging from a wooden cross sway gently with the wind. Big, rough hands and tiny, soft hands gently place flowers on the now grass covered grave. Tears fall for her for the twentieth year in a row. 

“Danse?”

“Yes, Shaun?” 

“I miss mom.”

“I do too. Come on, sit by me.”

Danse and Shaun sit by the grave, Shaun leaning on the older synth. They both say their prayers in honor of her, and share their favorite memories of when their two of them was three as they have done for the past twenty years. Shaun talks about how life is going, the friends he’s made, the cool things he’s invented and improved for the settlers. Danse reports the success of Sanctuary as well as the other settlements and how well they’re all doing. They talk about how quiet its been, a few Raiders stir up trouble here and there, but it’s all been peaceful for the most part. Shaun sniffling and wiping away tears as Danse held back his. Twenty years and it was still just as painful as the day she died. 

They both knew that they were going to have to move on at one point, but not today. Probably not anytime soon. As synths, they were immortal. Never to age and never to fall to illness. They were immortal as immortal gets unless they were to be shut down permanently, by a spoken code or even a few bullets. But that was never going to happen, not for a long time.

She was known as the Sole Survivor because she was the last remaining survivor of Vault 111, being frozen for a little over 200 years. She trudged the irradiated Commonwealth to look for the baby that was torn from her arms and the man who killed her husband. She made many friends, not just with the Minutemen and taking on the role as their General, but with the many settlements she helped and the many people she traveled with. She climbed the ranks of the Brotherhood and convinced Elder Maxson to spare Danse. She convinced the Elder to leave the Railroad alone as well, and destroyed the Institute while secretly liberating the synths, saddened by the loss of her finally found son who had become their leader. She had lost not just her husband, but her son as well. But before it was time to destroy the underground facility from within, she was met with the child synth that represented Shaun and took him with her. She found out later that her son gave Shaun to her in hopes the two could be the family that him and her could never be. Danse, her, and little Shaun became a family. She lived a long fulfilling life surrounded by those she loved and doing what she could to help the Commonwealth. She eventually died of old age at 287 years old. 

Her grave laid a little way just outside of her home, Sanctuary, next to the grave of her pre-war husband, Nate, and the grave of her loyal companion, Dogmeat. Flowers and small memorabilia lay on her grave, not just from Shaun and Danse, but from her friends as well. Hancock left his favorite combat knife and a pack of Mentats. Piper left a copy of the first newspaper she wrote of her, weighed down by a rock to keep it from being blown away. Nick left a pack of his favorite cigarettes and her Silver Shroud costume. Preston left her general’s hat to lay atop of the cross. Curie often comes by with Codsworth and tends to the graves. Strong is no longer allowed near the graves as he almost smashed it a few times out of anger and what others believed to be sadness. Cait would often come by when she thought no one was looking and would sit for there for hours sharing stories of the people she beat up within the past week and leave some of the bottle caps she earned from her winnings back at the Combat Zone that she occasionally goes back to as to let others know that she still upholds her title of undefeated, even when she’s sober and clean. Aside from her bragging, she whispers with tears of how much she misses her. MacCready left long ago to be with his son, but has made a few trips back to the Commonwealth to visit her grave. Deacon visits her grave every now and then but stays a good distance away, just as he watched her from afar when she left the vault. When Dogmeat was still alive, he would guard her grave, never letting it leave from his sight.

On the day of her funeral, the Brotherhood, the Railroad, and the Minutemen all put their differences aside to mourn for the loss of their Sentinel, their friend, and their General. Scribes played Taps on salvaged bugles. Maxson, Desdemona, and Preston spoke their own eulogies. Minutemen performed the three-volley salute. Flags were lowered. For one day, in honor of her death, there seemed to be peace among the Commonwealth. The people she met and helped traveled all across the Commonwealth to see her one last time.

It’s been 20 years after her death, and Danse still mourns. For a good portion of his life, he had no idea he was a synth. When it came to the shocking realization and the moment between life and death, despite his devoted and undying loyalty to the Brotherhood, she pushed her own loyalty to the Brotherhood aside to help him. She stood between him and Maxson and would not give in until Maxson backed down. He had never thought that he was worth the betrayal she had displayed in that moment. The guts she had to stand up against Maxson like that, the fire burning in her eyes, and the passion in her voice. She was crazy, but even more crazy to be willing to fight for a machine like him. But she made him see, that everything he has done for the people around him and for the Brotherhood has always been _his_ choice. The choices he’s made has always been from the goodness out of his heart. He is more than just a machine and she made him see that. 

Shaun is a synth, but it took him a long time to understand what that would mean for him and others around him. It meant that he could never grow up, never fall ill, and everyone around him will eventually die. He was angry and distraught; how could Father do this to him? For a long time, he felt that it would’ve been better if she left him to die with the Institute, that being dead would have been a better alternative than never being able to grow old with the ones he loved. But he came to realize that Danse, too, was a synth, along with aunt Curie and uncle Nick. Uncle Codsworth was a Mr. Handy robot but he could live for a very long time. Hell, uncle Hancock was a ghoul and reassured the boy that uncle Hancock wasn’t going to be kicking the bucket anytime soon. His mother reassured him that when she’s long gone, he’d still have a family to be with and they will always love him. She reassured him that he will never be alone in this world. She taught him to be kind, to be creative, and fight for what he believes in. She taught him to protect the ones he loves, to stand up for the ones who cannot stand for themselves, and help those in need. She truly was a good mother to him and he will carry her memory within his heart always. 

She left such a strong impression to the people of the Commonwealth and they will never forget her. In search for her son, she made the Commonwealth a better place. Who knew that being tricked by Vault-Tech, cryogenically frozen for 210 years, and having your son stolen and your husband murdered would end so bitter sweetly. It was hard, really hard, surviving in the wasteland that was once her home over 200 years ago. But she made it into a place she could call home again, and hoped that others may call it that as well. No one will ever forget her kindness, the sacrifices she made, and the battles she fought.

As the sun begins to set, Danse picks up a sleeping Shaun, the boy’s face stained with tears. It was time to say goodbye and return home in Sanctuary. He wakes up Shaun for them to say their goodbyes to her and that they will see her again next year. Danse looks to her grave one last time, and hopes that where ever she is, she can be with Nate and Shaun again and that she will never forget him, little Shaun, and everyone else in the Commonwealth and what she’s done for all of them.

**Author's Note:**

> To be honest, I teared up a lot while writing this and while re reading it. But thank you for getting this far and I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.


End file.
